Evidence of the use of potted plants is found in ancient Chinese artifacts, on the walls of tombs of the Egyptian pharaoh, and the ruins of Pompeii.

Containers of ornamentals adorned the palaces of European nobility for centuries and filled the parlors of middle-class Victorians and Americans more recently.

Potted foliage plants or house plants have had their place in homes for many years.

3

An unsatisfactory outcome is predictable when architects and interior decorators try to work with plant material whose qualities and maintenance requirements are unknown.

The term interior plantscaping comes from the demand for maintaining plants indoors. It is a variation on the term landscaping.

For now, the term interior plantscaping will be used to describe the work.

4

Tropical foliage plants have proven to be the most successful indoor plants because they do not require the period of cool temperature dormancy that often makes temperate zone plants unsatisfactory.

As a profession, interior plantscaping deals with the design, installation, and maintenance of plants in interior locations.

5

Five things plants must adjust to when used indoors

A drastic reduction in the quality and intensity of the light

Reduction and constriction of the plants root system

The replacement of natural rainfall by dependency on humans for correct watering

A reduction in nutrient requirements and a potential for buildup of soluble salts (fertilizers)

A lack of air movement and rainfall, allowing dust to accumulate on the leaves, often plugging stomata and reducing photosynthesis

Potential damage by air conditioners, central heating system, cleaning chemicals, water additives, and other irritants.

6

To understand the lighting requirements of a plant you must ask

How much light do interior plantings need?

What kind of light do they need?

What sources of light exist indoors?

No matter how many windows and skylights are designed into a home or office

building, the light intensity inside

will never equal that outside.

Light intensity is expressed in

units of lux or footcandle.

7

A lux is the illumination received on a surface that is 1 meter from a standard light source known as unity.

A lux is and international measurement comparable in use to the metric system.

In the United States, the footcandle unit is more commonly used and understood.

One footcandle is equal to the amount of light produced by a standard candle at a distance of 1 foot.

A light meter is the only way to measure light intensity accurately.

8

A light meter is the first piece of equipment that should be bought by a plantscape designer.

The keys to a plants survival are acclimatization and maintenance of the minimum light intensity required for its survival in an attractive and healthy condition.

Acclimatization is defined as the adjustment of an outdoor plant to interior conditions.

The minimum light intensity is the level of illumination necessary to allow acclimatized plant to produce new leaves at a rate equal to or slightly greater than the rate at which old leaves senesce and abscise.

9

The term used to describe when leaves age is senesce.

The term used to describe the falling off of leaves is abscise.

Light intensity is reduced gradually over a period of several weeks or months. The acclimatization process cannot be rushed without a severe reaction (defoliation, or death).

10

During nutrient acclimatization, high fertility levels in the soil is unnecessary, and thorough soil leaching at the beginning of the acclimatization period and occasionally afterwards will prevent a buildup of soluble salts.

During moisture acclimatization, the frequency of watering is reduced to prepare plants for their more stressful interior locale.

During temperature acclimatization, temperatures are gradually reduced to the range common to most interior areas (65 -75 F).

11

Light quality is the color of light emitted by a particular source.

Plants depend upon blue and red bands of the visible light spectrum.

The unit of measurement for light wavelengths is the nanometer.

12

Five questions to consider when selecting the proper lamp for illumination of an interior planting

How extensive is the planting?

Are the plants to be encouraged to grow or merely to be maintained at their current size?

Will the plants receive any sunlight? If so, how much and for how long?

How far will the artificial light source be from the plants?

What types of lamps are being used for general lighting of the area and what is the intensity of surface illumination provided?

13

Special effects such as shadows or textural highlights can be created with incandescent lights installed beneath the plants and directed upward. These are called uplights.

When supplemental lights are added for overhead illumination, they should be positioned to light the plants fully without shining in the eyes of viewers.

The most important of all light sources for interior plantscapes is natural sunlight when it can be planned for and depended on.

14

Sunlight entering from overhead is of greater use in the illumination of interior plantings than light entering from the side.

The medium that serves when plants are growing in a nursery field or production container is likely to be inappropriate for an interior installation.

15

Problems with natural field soil include

Too heavy to permit rapid drainage

Too heavy for the floor to support if the container is large

Inconsistent in composition, making standardized maintenance of separate planters difficult.

Infested with insects, pathogens, or weeds

16

Indoors, photosynthesis is reduced to survival-maintenance levels, so the root system need not be as large.

One of the first steps at the time of installation is to remove production medium from around the roots and prune away excess roots.

More interior plant deaths result from over-watering than from any other reason.

The need to water a planting can be determined by feeling the soil and observing its color.

17

When water is applied, it must be in a quantity adequate to wet the soil deeply, not shallowly.

Humidity is seldom a problem for plants growing outdoors, but can cause a problem for interior plantscapes.

If the correct precautions are not taken, plants can experience ethylene poisoning during shipping. This is caused by the exhaust and can severely damage the plants. Proper ventilation is the key to preventing this problem.

19

Air pollution cannot be escaped by bringing the landscape indoors.

Proper ventilation will carry away chlorine vapors, fumes from smokers and chemical cleaning agents, or the ethylene which may be present if a building is heated by some form of hydrocarbon combustion (fossil fuel).

Dust is an air pollutant different from the others in that it is a particulate not a vapor.

Air filtration reduces the amount of dust.

20

Pruning will not be extensive in an interior planting because of the plants reduced rate of growth.

Repotting of plants is necessary in plantings where growth is allowed.

21Five common pests in interior landscape

Aphids Mealybugs

Spider mites

22cont.d

White Flies Scale

23

The only real defense against vandalism to interior plants is public education and cooperation.

Grouping compatible species is used often in interior plantscapes. By using plants which have the same requirements for light, moisture, fertilization, and soil mix, grouping helps simplify maintenance.

24

The success of the plantscape is measured by its appearance and health.

No greater field in ornamental horticulture holds greater promise than interior landscaping.

About PowerShow.com

PowerShow.com is a leading presentation/slideshow sharing website. Whether your application is business, how-to, education, medicine, school, church, sales, marketing, online training or just for fun, PowerShow.com is a great resource. And, best of all, most of its cool features are free and easy to use.

You can use PowerShow.com to find and download example online PowerPoint ppt presentations on just about any topic you can imagine so you can learn how to improve your own slides and
presentations for free. Or use it to find and download high-quality how-to PowerPoint ppt presentations with illustrated or animated slides that will teach you how to do something new, also for free. Or use it to upload your own PowerPoint slides so you can share them with your teachers, class, students, bosses, employees, customers, potential investors or the world. Or use it to create really cool photo slideshows - with 2D and 3D transitions, animation, and your choice of music - that you can share with your Facebook friends or Google+ circles. That's all free as well!

For a small fee you can get the industry's best online privacy or publicly promote your presentations and slide shows with top rankings. But aside from that it's free. We'll even convert your presentations and slide shows into the universal Flash format with all their original multimedia glory, including animation, 2D and 3D transition effects, embedded music or other audio, or even video embedded in slides. All for free. Most of the presentations and slideshows on PowerShow.com are free to view, many are even free to download. (You can choose whether to allow people to download your original PowerPoint presentations and photo slideshows for a fee or free or not at all.) Check out PowerShow.com today - for FREE. There is truly something for everyone!

presentations for free. Or use it to find and download high-quality how-to PowerPoint ppt presentations with illustrated or animated slides that will teach you how to do something new, also for free. Or use it to upload your own PowerPoint slides so you can share them with your teachers, class, students, bosses, employees, customers, potential investors or the world. Or use it to create really cool photo slideshows - with 2D and 3D transitions, animation, and your choice of music - that you can share with your Facebook friends or Google+ circles. That's all free as well!

For a small fee you can get the industry's best online privacy or publicly promote your presentations and slide shows with top rankings. But aside from that it's free. We'll even convert your presentations and slide shows into the universal Flash format with all their original multimedia glory, including animation, 2D and 3D transition effects, embedded music or other audio, or even video embedded in slides. All for free. Most of the presentations and slideshows on PowerShow.com are free to view, many are even free to download. (You can choose whether to allow people to download your original PowerPoint presentations and photo slideshows for a fee or free or not at all.) Check out PowerShow.com today - for FREE. There is truly something for everyone!